Israeli startup AI21 raises US$208 million in funding round, valued at US$1.4 billion

ISRAEL-BASED AI startup AI21 said on Tuesday (Nov 21) that it had raised another US$53 million in recent weeks to complete its Series C funding round at US$208 million.

With the latest round, it has raised a total capital of US$336 million at a valuation of US$1.4 billion, the company said.

The new funds came from Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures, the venture arms of Intel and Comcast, which joined previous investors that included Google and NVIDIA.

AI21 said the new financing will increase its ability to provide AI technology to companies globally, help in expanding the company’s fields of activity, and recruit about 100 additional employees by the end of 2024.

In August, the firm said it had raised an initial US$155 million in the round, and fund-raising has increased the amount since then.

Companies across the world, from banks to big tech, have doubled down on investments in artificial intelligence (AI) after ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, took the world by storm in late 2022.

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AI21 is among a clutch of AI startups that have benefited from this boom, attracting strong interest from venture capital firms and other investors.

Anthony Lin, head of Intel Capital, said: “The AI21 full-stack offering combines foundation models with successful applications and operation tools that will help enterprises accelerate GenAI adoption to increase productivity and affect their bottom and top lines.”

Founded in 2017, AI21 Labs has built a strong customer base, from consumers to Fortune 100 companies. REUTERS